DESCRIPTION
Ring Tailed Lemurs are primates found only in Madagascar. They have long, striped, black and white tail. They have grey bodies and white faces, stomachs and ears and bright orange eyes, ringed with black fur.
HABITAT
Ring Tailed Lemurs are found in the southern regions of Madagascar. The Ring Tailed Lemur ranges further into highland areas than other lemurs. They are found at elevations from sea level to 2600 metres. They can be found in lowland forests, the savannah, rocky cannons, dry scrub, humid forests, rainforests and spiny bush forests
SOCIAL
The Ring Tailed Lemur is highly social, living in groups of up to 30 lemurs. It is also female dominant, a trait common among lemurs. To re affirm social bonds and keep warm, groups of lemurs will huddle together. The Ring Tailed Lemur will also sunbathe, sitting upright and facing its underside towards the sun.
SMELL
Like other lemurs, this species strongly relies on its sense of smell and marks its territory with scent glands. The males perform a unique scent marking behaviour called spur marking and will participate in stink fights by impregnating their tail with their scent and wafting it at opponents.
VOCALS
As one of the most vocal primates, the Ring Tailed Lemur uses numerous vocalizations including group cohesion and alarm sounds. Experiments have shown that the Ring Tailed Lemur, despite having a small brain, can organize sequences, understand basic arithmetic operations and preferentially select tools based on functional qualities. They also communicate using facial expressions:
Staring bared teeth scream face: their eyes are opened wide, the mouth is open with the corners drawn back so that the teeth and gums are revealed, this occurs with terror flight
Silent bared teeth face: their eyebrows are either relaxed or up, and the corners of their mouth are drawn back, allowing the teeth to
Pout face: their eyes are open wide and their lips are pushed forward so that the mouth resembles an O shape. This occurs when begging.
Ring Tailed Lemurs have several different alarm calls to tell members of their group to potential danger. Common calls include:
Infant contact: soft purr
Cohesion: cat’s meow, used when the group is widely dispersed
Territorial: howl
Alarm: starts as a grunt then becomes a howl
THREATS
Ring Tailed Lemurs live in forests that are disappearing because of fires, overgrazing of domestic livestock, logging and hunting. There are annual burning practices to create new areas for livestock. Ring Tailed Lemurs are also hunted for food and are also kept as pets. Baby lemurs are caught and sold to tourists for 5,000 ariary ($2 US). Pet lemurs will usually become aggressive as they get older and their owners will often confine or sell them.
BREEDING
Mating season is very short for most species of lemurs. It’s usually less than 3 weeks each year. Lemurs will only mate according to the environment. That means that some of lemurs are born in winter or in the summer or spring depending on the area that they live in. the availability of food also affects when lemurs will reproduce. They will avoid breeding if food is in short supply to increase their chances of survival.
YOUNG
Baby Ring Tailed Lemurs are very vulnerable at birth. The mothers will carry them around in their chest until they can hold on to her back. They will say on their mothers back until they are old enough to move through the trees on their own. Ring Tailed Lemurs will stay with their mothers for 2 years. Baby lemurs drink milk from their mothers until they start looking for food. More than half of the baby lemurs will die before they are old enough to leave their mum. The average life span for a wild lemur is 18 years.
CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom: animalia
Phylum: chordata
Class: mammalia
Order: primates
Family: lemuridae
Genus: lemur
Species: L.catta
Ring Tailed Lemurs are endangered.
DESCRIPTION
Ring Tailed Lemurs are primates found only in Madagascar. They have long, striped, black and white tail. They have grey bodies and white faces, stomachs and ears and bright orange eyes, ringed with black fur.
HABITAT
Ring Tailed Lemurs are found in the southern regions of Madagascar. The Ring Tailed Lemur ranges further into highland areas than other lemurs. They are found at elevations from sea level to 2600 metres. They can be found in lowland forests, the savannah, rocky cannons, dry scrub, humid forests, rainforests and spiny bush forests
SOCIAL
The Ring Tailed Lemur is highly social, living in groups of up to 30 lemurs. It is also female dominant, a trait common among lemurs. To re affirm social bonds and keep warm, groups of lemurs will huddle together. The Ring Tailed Lemur will also sunbathe, sitting upright and facing its underside towards the sun.
SMELL
Like other lemurs, this species strongly relies on its sense of smell and marks its territory with scent glands. The males perform a unique scent marking behaviour called spur marking and will participate in stink fights by impregnating their tail with their scent and wafting it at opponents.
VOCALS
As one of the most vocal primates, the Ring Tailed Lemur uses numerous vocalizations including group cohesion and alarm sounds. Experiments have shown that the Ring Tailed Lemur, despite having a small brain, can organize sequences, understand basic arithmetic operations and preferentially select tools based on functional qualities. They also communicate using facial expressions:
- Staring bared teeth scream face: their eyes are opened wide, the mouth is open with the corners drawn back so that the teeth and gums are revealed, this occurs with terror flight
- Silent bared teeth face: their eyebrows are either relaxed or up, and the corners of their mouth are drawn back, allowing the teeth to
- Pout face: their eyes are open wide and their lips are pushed forward so that the mouth resembles an O shape. This occurs when begging.
Ring Tailed Lemurs have several different alarm calls to tell members of their group to potential danger. Common calls include:THREATS
Ring Tailed Lemurs live in forests that are disappearing because of fires, overgrazing of domestic livestock, logging and hunting. There are annual burning practices to create new areas for livestock. Ring Tailed Lemurs are also hunted for food and are also kept as pets. Baby lemurs are caught and sold to tourists for 5,000 ariary ($2 US). Pet lemurs will usually become aggressive as they get older and their owners will often confine or sell them.
BREEDING
Mating season is very short for most species of lemurs. It’s usually less than 3 weeks each year. Lemurs will only mate according to the environment. That means that some of lemurs are born in winter or in the summer or spring depending on the area that they live in. the availability of food also affects when lemurs will reproduce. They will avoid breeding if food is in short supply to increase their chances of survival.
YOUNG
Baby Ring Tailed Lemurs are very vulnerable at birth. The mothers will carry them around in their chest until they can hold on to her back. They will say on their mothers back until they are old enough to move through the trees on their own. Ring Tailed Lemurs will stay with their mothers for 2 years. Baby lemurs drink milk from their mothers until they start looking for food. More than half of the baby lemurs will die before they are old enough to leave their mum. The average life span for a wild lemur is 18 years.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/mammals
www.lemurworld.com
news.mongabay.com/2013/1218
www.defenders.org/ring-tailed-lemurs
www.iucnredlist.org/details/11496/0
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring-tailed_lemur
www.zoo.org.au/melbourne/animals/ring-tailed-lemur